Community remembers Markham family slain in quadruple killings

Relatives and friends of four family members killed in their Markham home on the weekend gathered for a funeral on Friday afternoon.

Hundreds turned out for the service at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto in Scarborough.

It comes five days after York Regional Police discovered the bodies of four people inside a house on Castlemore Avenue on Sunday afternoon.

The four people have since been identified as 70-year-old Firoza Begum, 50-year-old Momotaz Begum, 59-year-old Moniruz Zaman and 21-year-old Malesa Zaman.

Menhaz Zaman, 23, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the slayings. He was set to make his second court appearance in Newmarket today.

Police have not shared how the victims are connected to each other or the accused, but friends have confirmed that the four who died are the suspect’s grandmother, parents and sister.

Shamsu Zaman, the brother of Moniruz, spoke to CBC Toronto before the funeral began. He said his brother was a “very friendly, a very happy guy.

“I don’t know how I can recover from this,” he said.

Mohamed Ali, a family friend, said that Moniruz and his wife Momotaz moved to Canada from Bangladesh in 1988, first to Montreal and then to Toronto two years later.

He described Moniruz as a “very caring person” and said the Zaman family seemed happy together.

Shamsu Zaman said the community is “broken” and that he feels helpless in the wake of the slayings.

“May God bless them,” he said of the family.